I wonder if that's true; but it's certainly a valid argument. Something is better than nothing. I'd be willing to choose a fair trade coffee, or a supposedly environmentally-friendly dishwashing detergent over the alternatives, even if I had to pay a bit more. It's 'doing my bit': having responsibility. I shop for presents for my girlfriend at Lush, who do not test on animals, and ensure that all their inputs are sustainable, and recycle as much as possible. And good on them!

But we should be sceptical about CSR. What are the real motivations? Or perhaps I'm being a cynical jerk. Discuss.
LUSH FTW!!!

*cough* Anyhoo....

I think while there are stores like WalMart out in the world there should be some sort of CSR. WalMart at times seems like a necessary evil, I know people who wouldn't be able to really live if they couldn't buy stuff from there. But it just brings about our own dependence on it, whereas local establishments go under because they can't compete with their prices.

In a perfect world, everything would be fair trade. There'd be no sweat shops, people living in 3rd World countries wouldn't get exploited to do heavy manual labour for pennies so WE can have a dishware set that only costs $15. We try to only by local grown produce, avoid WalMart like the plauge, buy fair trade whenever possible. We also use Green Electricity (to help our impact on the environment), cloth diapers so we don't impact our local landfills. Not trying to sound like a moral compass, I've been guilty of (at times) buying stuff from WM too.

Anyways, my point is that I think that as consumers we should start demanding better trading practices and support businesses that do. Sure, 5 cents per latte isn't a lot, but when you factor in that they do use recyclable products when they can, buy some of their beans at Fair Trade prices, the rest well above what other people pay. Are they earth bound saints? No, and they still have a ways to go... but IMO they are on the right track.

It bugs me when people start campaigning for corporations to be more "fair" but then don't practice it themselves. Not saying that you do that Alpha, just people that I've been around. So many people enjoy talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

Not sure if that's what you were getting at... but that's how I interpreted your post.